BLH provides you with the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation featuring some mock trades from Oilers fans courtesy of The Athletic!
Is Leon Draisaitl’s excellent two-way presence just a mirage? One Edmonton pundit says they may very well be, BLH says not so fast. Read about it here.
A new name in the rumor mill for Oilers fans! Check out who it is here.
Could Tyson Barrie be trade bait for the Oilers? Read about that here.
This is not the kind of news Edmonton Oilers fans will like.
Edmonton Oilers Mock Trades
- “Assuming the Oilers are committed to re-signing Barrie and Larsson in the off-season. Also pre-expansion:Ethan Bear for Nick Paul” – Ryan L.
BLH’s Thoughts: WTF Man! Talk about undervaluing a hockey player. My favorite part of this is the reply where Code L. says no because Nick Paul has arrived and is a useful plug and play-type player…
- “Ethan bear and koskinen for darcy kuemper” – Jeff C.
BLH’s Thoughts: Now we’re getting somewhere. Edmonton gets one of the better goalies over the past few seasons and it frees up a couple million in cap room.
- “RNH for dumba straight up” – Collin J.
BLH’s Thoughts: A few years ago I might’ve done this but not anymore. Not with Edmonton having Barrie, Bouchard, Bear, and Larsson on the right-side with none of them making as much as Dumba is. I do like Matthew Boldy though…
- “How about Caleb Jones and Mikko Koskinen for Elvis Merzlikins? Maybe the Oil would have to add a little sweetener but I think that’s a good basis for a deal” – Kale B.
BLH’s Thoughts: Ya know, I don’t think I would add anything to get Merzlikins. The Blue Jackets will be losing him or Joonas Korpisalo at the expansion draft unless they can convice Ron Francis to take someone else plus they’ve got two more netminders in the system that are projected to be NHL goalies someday.
- “Larsson for Staal or Olofsson. Clears room for Bouchard to move up, and either shores up the three C and moves Turris to a wing, or gives McDavid the winger he needs. Also money in money out. Frees up a little space for another move.” – Matthew L.
BLH’s Thoughts: A few things here, Puljujarvi is the winger McDavid needs and they already have him. Turris will be challenged to make the roster again this season let alone next and I could see him being waived and sent to the AHL at some point to let the Oilers off the hook for most of his deal. Akin to what happened with Sam Gagner.
I can’t see Buffalo letting go of Olofsson for a handful of games of Adam Larsson. That said, if Eric Staal would be willing to go through the quarantine, and by all accounts it doesn’t sound like he is, the former Carolina Hurricane would be an excellent 3C.
- “Caleb Jones + Tyler Benson + draft pick for Mattias Ekholm or Ethan Bear + Lavoie + 1st Rd pick for Ryan Ellis” – Brendan D.
BLH’s Thoughts: Picking up Ellis would mean bye bye to Tyson Barrie. So you’d be going with Ellis, Adam Larsson, and Evan Bouchard. That’s not bad.
I don’t know where Rafa Lavoie’s future lies. Yes, he did have a good season in Sweden this year but he scored a lot of goals in the first 20-30 games and then went silent in the latter part of the year in addition to getting suspended multiple times and getting into his coach’s doghouse… I had heard before his draft that he had some maturity issues, so that part doesn’t surprise me. With that in mind, he’s always reminded me of Alex Chiasson and I really dig Chaser. However, he’s never been anything more than a bottom-six winger, so moving him and Bear with a 1st rounder for a top-pairing d-man who’s under contract for the next six (?) years, that’s probably something I could live with.
The Ekholm deal makes a lot of sense to me too but there’d be a bit of a conflict of Oscar Klefbom returns next year, no?
- “Nuge, Holloway, 2021 first for Eichel” – Adam T.
BLH’s Thoughts: I still don’t think that’s enough and that mean Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid, and Jesse Puljujarvi would be a permanent line going forward? Plus, Eichel’s making $10M a year for the foreseeable future… I like the player but I’m not a fan of the financial mess it puts the team in. Besides, Captain Jack is a guy that needs his own team. He’s already played second fiddle to McDavid at his draft, how happy would he be doing it again on a nightly basis. In fact, he’d probably be third or fourth fiddle in Edmonton.
Keeping a re-signed RNH and a very promising Dylan Holloway plus that first makes more sense for the Oilers at this point in time.
- “Conor Garland for Dominik Kahun, Dmitri Samorukov and Cooper Marody” – Jerrica B.
BLH’s Thoughts: My feeling going off of what Elliotte Friedman has been saying is that they Coyotes would want more substantial players if they’re going to move Garland. Meaning, players who are going to play in the NHL. Now, Kahun can play, he just has a hard time scoring goals for some reason, Marody doesn’t really have the boots to play in the top-six, and I think it’d be best to wait and see what’s up with Samrukov’s shoulder before making any final judgements on him.
One thing to keep in mind, Garland is only making $775k this year and he’s an RFA this off-season. So he’ll be due for a massive pay raise. Not that that would be a problem for the Oilers, but it’s something that has to be brought up.
Would you give up Ryan McLeod and Tyler Benson for him? Personally, I don’t think Benson will be an impact player in the NHL, but I could be wrong and perhaps Arizona would be happy to bring in these two players because they’re young, cheap, and are high-character young men looking for an opportunity.
What do you think of these trade proposals? Let us know in the comments below!!!
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